Published 1:49 pm, Friday, August 28, 2009

Instead, he's three weeks into free agency and nowhere close to a deal.

Lee said Thursday he's frustrated by the lack of progress, and not sure if an agreement will ever be reached with the Knicks.

"I don't feel disrespected or angry at anybody," Lee said. "I understand that this is a business and it's a process, especially for restricted free agents. We understand that, but it doesn't make it an optimal fit for what we're trying to do right now."

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Lee became a restricted free agent on July 1 and the Knicks have said they'd like to keep him, but only at the right cost. New York is trying to save salary cap space for next summer and doesn't want to spend too much on re-signing its power forward.

Lee is aware of the Knicks' position, but expected more interest from his team after his strong season in 2008-09. He averaged 16 points and 11.7 rebounds while leading the NBA with 65 double-doubles and finishing third in rebounding.

"We would have loved to make the playoffs last year, but from an individual standpoint I was happy with the progress with I made," Lee said. "I thought I fit into Coach's system real well and I thought that I laid it all on the line for four years.

"I played 81 games out of 82 last year, gave it everything I had to the team, so that's what's been the most frustrating, that it wasn't just an easier fix after what I think I've meant to the franchise and what they meant to me."

Because he is unsigned, Lee was forced to sit out the USA Basketball minicamp this week. He ran into coach Mike D'Antoni, an assistant with the U.S. team, on Wednesday night, but that was about the extent of his conversations with the Knicks since the season ended.

D'Antoni has said he wants Lee to return, as has team president Donnie Walsh, but not at the numbers he's seen in the papers.

"He has an agenda with his agent, rightly so, and Donnie has an agenda that I think everybody knows, and right now they're not coinciding," D'Antoni said.

Lee's agent, Mark Bartelstein, is reportedly asking for more than $10 million per season for Lee. Bartelstein said he hasn't discussed terms with anyone in the media, believing that should be kept between the team and the player.

Bartelstein shares Lee's discouragement, saying he and the Knicks have a "disagreement" and that nothing is really happening with negotiations.

"David had a heck of a season, a heck of a couple of years with the Knicks, so he would love to have this thing resolved," Bartelstein said. "As a player, it's unsettling to have this hanging over your head."

Since his arrival in New York last April, Walsh said his plan is to be under the salary cap in 2010, when LeBron James could lead a stellar free-agent class. So he's been hesitant to offer long-term deals that eat up space next summer.

Yet the Knicks have pursued Jason Kidd and Grant Hill this summer, and Lee wishes they would show the same urgency with him.

"I've been frustrated a little bit by the amount of effort put in and it's been tough," Lee said. "I figured with what I've done for the Knicks the last four years and with what they've done for me, and being a fan favorite and being somebody that loves New York as much as I have the last four years, I thought something would get done a little quicker.

"So that's been a little frustrating. But no, I understand where they're coming from, they understand where we're coming from, it's just going to be a process to get this thing done."